Favourite Things: Sheffield Crucible keeps creating a right good night out

She is the festival manager for Off the Shelf festival of words creating a full circle as she was one of the team that started the festival back in the day. She worked for many years as a freelance cultural producer across the North and is married to metalworker James - and looking for a bigger garden.

Text in the City on The Moor

The Moor seems to be an ever-evolving part of the city, constantly re-inventing itself but a fitting place for the 2013 Off the Shelf Text in the City public art piece written by Berlie Doherty, Here Lies A City’s Heart. In the poem Berlie sees the CIty as a woman whose ‘long limbs reach to the moors’ and on The Moor ‘lies her throbbing heart’. You can see this carved into a bench and on nearby benches is Ray Hearne’s A Sing-Song for Stainless Steel, carved by letter carver Pip Hall, that we commissioned to celebrate the discovery of stainless steel by Harry Brearley, the skill and endeavour of the people who made and still make it and how it has become synonymous with Sheffield across the world.

Graves Art Gallery & Central Library

I think that the Graves Building - with its ethos of being open to all and a space where literature, thinking and beauty can be found under one roof - pretty much encapsulates Sheffield’s authentic and independent spirit. It was a very formative space for me - as a teenager I’d take out library books and albums (pre CDs!) and then wander up to the Graves Art Gallery where I fell in love with the really diverse art from the City’s collection. Even the cafe was influential as cake was served up on hand thrown plates with David Mellor cutlery and I think that started my love of craft too. I worked in this stunning art deco building for a while and it’s exciting that the Graves Gallery is being shown some love with a programme of refurbishment - and there’s a great shop too.

Redmires & Rivelin

I grew up on the 51 bus route so it was a regular thing to go all the way to the terminus on the bus and spend the day walking round the dams, Wyming Brook and out to Stanage Edge. I love Sheffield and it’s so good to see it from on high set in its bowl. I was up there last week foraging for bilberries but it was in lockdowns that this beautiful space really made a difference to me. Being able to get out of the house and hear the cry of Lapwings and Curlews (and one lonesome Cuckoo) up on the tops and walk through swaying Cottongrass made the world sane again.

The Crucible

I can’t believe the Crucible is 50 this year - it means I might be older than I think...

I saw Shared Experience in a production of Bleak House in 1977 and, whilst I always loved losing myself in a book, I found I was hooked on experiencing live performances with a real audience. It turns out I do like musicals after all and I’ve been blown away by the most electrifying contemporary dance and drama here - our wonderful team at Sheffield Theatres keep creating a right good night out.

Persistence Works

Some day I’m going to get my lino cutting kit out from the back of the wardrobe … but for now I’m so glad we have Persistence Works - home of talented makers and some seriously good making. It’s been a real pleasure to work with the silversmiths, jewellers and artists who have studios in this gorgeous building, they are so creative and inventive and the city is a better place for having them here. Come Open Studio days there’s a chance to ‘meet the maker’ so I’ve spent a few pennies here too …. Of course out of the city centre in Hillsborough is Cupola Gallery where you see and buy wonderful art and craft all year round.

Music venues

I cut my teeth at The Leadmill in the 1980’s and it’s where I got the bug for bringing audiences and artists together - what I’ve strived to do ever since and am now doing with Off the Shelf again. It’s rooted in the city and is a great place to see new local talent. Sheffield City Hall is another old friend and workplace. The Oval Hall always feels like a person to me (definitely female) I once got to go over her glass ceiling in a little ‘boat’ which was fun and I’ve enjoyed so much live music here from orchestral to folk - and I’ve got my Nick Cave tickets! For next month’s gig!

Leavygreave

Sheffield is blessed with brilliant street art and I love how people come to the City to check it out - like the hundreds of people who queued to see Phlegm’s Mausoleum of the Giants installation in the old Eye Witness Works we produced back in 2019. I really love the combination of art and planting we have too and one of my favourites is the landscaping along Leavygreave with artist David Appleyard’s sculptural tables and University of Sheffield' s Prof. Nigel Dunnett’s fantastic planting. You can sit in the sun with your pack up, help yourself to herbs from the middle of the tables and enjoy the movement of meadow planting - it’s so tranquil and good for the soul.